Inter Milan gift Bayern Munich their UEFA Champions League tie
The breakup of Inter Milan is already well underway in some media outlets throughout Italy but what the Italian champions need right now is some valuable self assessment.
After winning the UEFA Champions League last season under Jose Mourinho’s tactical guidance, Inter Milan have now reached a point of no-return in European football with their new manager Leonardo.
The Brazilian was appointed as Inter Milan’s first team manager following Rafael Bentiez’s infamous departure from the Italian club after his appointment in the summer as Inter’s manager.
Leonardo has stabilized Inter Milan’s domestic form but as their defeat against Bayern Munich showcased on Wednesday night, the young former A.C. Milan manager has a lot to learn before he can take on the likes of Louis Van Gaal in the UEFA Champions League.
Arm-chair pundits will say that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan lacked creativity in the match at San Siro, Bayern Munich totally dominated the European champions in a reply of last year’s UEFA Champions League final but in reality it was a series of tactical blunders by Leonardo
that cost his team the tie.
Inter Milan started with a solitary striker Samuel Eto in their 4-3-2-1 formation as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dejan-Stankovic-c10793 played as Inter’s two offensive midfielders.
On the other hand, Bayern Munich played a 4-2-3-1 formation with Gomez as their front man. The German striker was supported by Thomas Mueller as a trequartista and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arjen-Robben-c6521 and Franck Ribery as Bayern’s two wide men. It was a tactically interesting contest,
which was won by Munich in the end as the match ended with the score line of 0-1 in favour of the visiting side.
The main problem for Inter Milan throughout the match was the positioning and work rate of Stankovic and Sneijder. Both midfielders were playing up the field as attacking enforcers for the home side.
However, when Inter Milan lost the ball both the midfielders stayed up field and didn’t help out the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Thiago-Motta-c34897 in the defensive third of the field.
This trend allowed Bayern Munich to dominate the possession over the course of the 90 minutes. With the ball at their feet, Bayern, were deadly with their two wide players on full song.
Robben had the beating of Chivu whereas Ribery also troubled Maicon down the right wing. It just a matter of time before Bayern broke through with the first goal of the match.
Most importantly, Leonardo didn’t address the issue of Sneijder and Stankovic’s positioning. He stuck to Inter’s offensive guns but he didn’t realize that Inter weren’t going to score without the ball.
Additionally, Bayern Munich’s fullbacks made crucial contributions to their overall superiority. Their attacking runs prevented Maicon and Chivu to embark into the final third of Bayern Munich’s half of the field.
This prevented Inter Milan’s build up play from spreading out wide and forced Cambiasso and Zanetti to concentrate the play in the middle of the park. Bayern also benefitted from a fine performance from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bastian-Schweinsteiger-c7374. The German midfielder completed
70 out of his 78 passes in the match as he held the German champions together at San Siro through an impeccable routine of passing.
As both the teams look to progress to the quarter finals, it is Bayern Munich, who have the upper hand now. In UEFA Champions League history, Bayern Munich have never lost a knockout tie after gaining a victory in the first away leg. It looks likely that
Van Gaal’s team will maintain their record unless Leonardo changes his strategy for the better.
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